


The Apprentice

by Tonksbeybey



Category: Humans (TV)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Post Season 1
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-23
Packaged: 2018-04-14 23:05:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4583538
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tonksbeybey/pseuds/Tonksbeybey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mattie tracks down Leo in a holiday home that he uses as hiding place.<br/>He agrees to give her a crash course and to teach her all the stuff that no headcracker could teach her.<br/>When Leo's technology starts to malfunction, Mattie sees herself face to face with Leo like she has never seen him before.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hiya so this is my first multichapter Leotilda fic (the chapters are rather short though).
> 
> Beware it was meant as a one shot so it's quite on surface. It started out as fluff, but got a bit weird so I threw in some angst and more fluff.
> 
> I don't own any characters and so on.
> 
> For some reason I got the whole apprentice idea from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's poem "The Sorcerer's apprentice". So some words are used in reference to this poem (like apprentice, master and Goethe...wooow)
> 
> Finally all my thanks go to my amazing beta: badwolf-doctor from tumblr =D
> 
> Ps: I tried to format this in order to make it easier to read, so please tell me how it's working =)

 

“I want you to teach me.”

 

Leo looks at Mattie and she can tell that he considers it for a second.

 

He sighs.

 

“No. No way.”

 

Mattie looks at him and Leo can see from her face that she is sulking.

 

“Look… Matilda, I don’t think that…"

 

She interrupts him.

 

“Don’t you call me Matilda, my name is Mattie! You don’t think I’m good enough to learn from you, do you? You think I’m just a stupid girl, who doesn’t know what she’s doing.”

 

Mattie’s lower lip trembles.

 

There is silence for a few seconds.

 

“No, no I don’t think that at all. Why would I think that?”

 

Leo sounds confused by her outburst.

 

“I just meant that it is too dangerous for you to be here for a large amount of time.”

 

Mattie stares at him trying to figure out how much honesty there is in his words.

  
She knows that it is dangerous; not only for her, but for him as well. Max and Mia are somewhere safe and he insists that not even he knows their exact position.

 

Whereas for him, once Mattie had known what she needed to look for, finding him had been easy. When she had first arrived at his doorstep two weeks ago, or rather the doorstep of the late Dr. Millican’s holiday cottage, Leo had been furious with her.

 

Even before she had been able to greet him, he had grabbed her by the arm, dragged her into the corridor and slammed the door shut behind her.

  
Leo had yelled at her for almost ten minutes about her being insane to come there. Asking her if she had been followed; asking her how on earth she had found him, asking her if she had put Hobb on his track and scolding her about what she had been thinking to even start looking for him.

 

“I was careful, I’m not stupid. It’s just you never said goodbye. I wanted to help you with Fred and …I missed you.”

  
The words were out before she could keep herself from saying them.

 

The way Leo had looked at her made it apparent that she had taken the wind out of his sails.

 

From one second to the next he hadn’t appeared angry anymore and his face had softened instantly. It even had seemed like there was a little sparkle in his eyes.  
He cleared his throat.

 

“Um, I missed you too”, his voice was even coarser than usual.

 

And Mattie, who remembered this moment fondly, could still remember that he had suddenly seemed unable to look her into the eyes and she was pretty sure he had looked at her eyebrows instead.

 

(She knows that trick from Toby who gets extremely anxious before presentations; speaking freely is easier for him when he looks at his audience’s eyebrows, because it makes the audience feel like he is making eye contact but he doesn’t actually have to do it.)

  
Leo hadn’t blushed or anything, but the way he had smiled at her, shy but somehow mischievous, almost as if he was highly amused about the weirdness and awkwardness of human emotions, still made her heart speed up a notch.

 

* * *

 

“Then give me a crash course. Two weeks, that’s all I’m asking. Just show me the most important stuff, the stuff that I can’t possibly learn somewhere else and I don’t know maybe we’ll find something to help Fred.”

 

Leo tilts his head to one side as he often does when he is thinking hard or is about to make a decision. She hadn’t seen him for two weeks but today she has taken the trip again and once again arrived at his doorstep. Now they sit at the kitchen table and Mattie tries to convince him of her plan.

  
“So you’d be my apprentice?”

 

“More like crash course participant.”

 

“Yeah, apprentice.”

 

“Participant.”

 

“Appren…”

 

Mattie interrupts him and rolls her eyes at him.

 

“Alright Goethe, apprentice it is.”

 

She cannot help but grin at his triumphant smile.

 

“Okay then,” he says.

 

* * *

 

“So how are we going to do this? I mean will you go home and just come back here every day or…?”Leo doesn’t finish his sentence, he doesn’t have to. And he knows too well that they are too far away for Mattie to get home every day.

 

Mattie coughs a bit.

 

“I, um…I told my family I’d spent some time with Harun and his family at their holiday home. His parents are never around anyway so it’s gonna be hard to check with them and he agreed to cover up for me. I told him I’d spent some time with a girl from the headcracker forum, whose dad lets her practice on real synths.”

 

Leo looks at her. “A girl?”

 

Mattie nods. “Yeah a girl.”

 

Leo sighs. “I don’t know Mattie…don’t you think I have a bit too much facial hair for this cover story?”

 

Mattie stares at him in surprise.

 

“Leo Elster, did you just attempt to make a joke?”

 

He chuckles slightly. “I don’t know. Maybe?”

 

But a few seconds later he already looks serious again. “This Harun…can you trust him?”

 

“Yeah, I think so.”

 

“So is he your… um I mean are you two…?”

 

Suddenly the table top seems to be of enormous interest to him.

 

“No!” exclaims Mattie and realises instantly that the words came out a bit too fast and a bit too loud.

 

“I mean no. He thinks we’re heading in this direction but um …no.”

 

Leo simply nods. “Well I guess it is best if I show you your room then? And the rest of the cottage? And then we could start.”

 

Mattie nods. “Yeah, sure.”

 

* * *

 

“I’m not taking this bedroom!”

 

“Why not? I cleaned it just this morning.”

 

“I didn’t say it was dirty, I said I’m not taking it. This is your bedroom.”

 

“You have no proof of that.”

 

“Leo this is the only bedroom and your bag is up here. Plus there is a picture of you, Mia, Fred, Max and Niska on the bedside table.”

 

“Well, now you’re just jumping to conclusions.”

 

Mattie gives him the stare that she has seen on her mother’s face so often before.

 

Leo sighs.

 

“Listen Mattie, you can have this bedroom; I’ll take the couch. I sleep there most of the time anyways. Besides this situation calls for this sort of etiquette, I learned it in charm school.”

 

“Woah, two jokes in one day. You should become a comedian.” says Mattie, who secretly decides to look for empty bottles. She isn’t used to Leo being giddy. She doesn’t know Leo as a giddy person. It’s the kind of giddiness that her great-aunt Mildred likes to display at family gatherings after three glasses of vodka on the rocks.

 

“I will hit you if you swing your pants over your head while bawling out 99 Red Balloons.”

 

Leo looks at her in confusion. “What?”

 

“Oh god I said that out loud, didn’t I?”

 

“Yeah and while I have the feeling that there is definitely an interesting story behind it, we really should go back to the kitchen and get started on our work. And Mattie this will be your bedroom or you can sleep in the bathtub for all I care, but I will take the couch.”

 

Mattie sighs internally with relief. That is the Leo she knows: grumpy, moody, a bit impolite sometimes, and furthermore a “let’s get back to work”-guy.

 

* * *

 

“I can’t sleep.”

 

“For fuck’s sake Leo, did you wake me up just to tell me that?”

 

“Yeah, but I can’t sleep!”

 

“I don’t care! I could until you rushed in. Just go back to be…the couch!”

 

“Mia always made me hot cocoa!”

 

Mattie groans and tries to pull the pillow over her face.

 

“I’m not Mia and you’re not fucking 5 years old! Make your own damn cocoa, in silence if possible, and then go to sleep!”

 

She can almost feel Leo pouting at her.

 

“Fine! I’ll make cocoa all by myself you big meanie!”

 

He slams the door behind him.

 

“What the actual fuck?!” Thinks Mattie before she falls back asleep.

 

* * *

 

Mattie enters the kitchen the next morning and hopes that Leo has gone back to normal. She is still confused about his behaviour last night.

 

“Morning, Mattie.”

 

He stands there behind the kitchen counter, his hair still wet from the shower, clearing up what looks like the remains of a broken mug.

 

“Morning, Leo.” she replies. So far, so normal.

 

“Mattie, did you make hot cocoa last night and break the mug?”

 

Mattie stares at him in disbelief.

 

“You are kidding, right?”

 

Leo looks confused back at her.

 

“No, I’m not. Someone made cocoa and broke the mug and now we’re out of cocoa and I almost stepped on the shards. I mean, I’m not angry or something, you can make as much cocoa as you like but if you break something next time please put it away.”

 

Mattie is too baffled to say anything and so she just nods.

 

“What the fuck is going on?” she thinks.

 

She can see a pretty big plaster on Leo’s hand that hadn’t been there the evening before.

 

* * *

 

They are in the middle of work. Leo teaches her how the secret message system between him and Niska works and how she has to encode the messages. It’s a bit complicated but she can follow his teachings just fine. He is in the middle of his sentence when he suddenly stops and turns towards her.

  
“I’m bored. Let’s play a game.”

 

“Sorry, what?”

 

“A game. Oh I know we could play never have I ever. I think we still have orange juice. Or I spy. Or we could go in the garden and collect leaves or...” he turns away again and stares at his laptop.

 

Mattie who is getting pretty scared runs her hand up and down before his eyes.He doesn’t even blink.

 

“Leo? Leo?” she asks standing up from her chair.

 

He suddenly turns towards her.

 

“… if you encode them like that only Niska will be able to decode them. I’ll show you our decode system in a second.”

 

He looks at her irritated as if he’s questioning how she got up so suddenly.

 

“Oh I’m sorry; you probably have to go to the toilet. Right, how about we take a ten minute break? You’re doing fine so far by the way.” he smiles at her encouragingly.

 

Mattie just nods and tries to fake a smile before she retreats backwards out of the room into the corridor.

 

Something is really, really wrong.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I usually planned on waiting another day before I hit you with this ...however this one will be published now for PlumeBluue =) As a bit of distratcion from the horror that are exams =)
> 
> Tbh this is the part were it starts to get weird, but I hope it won't freak you lovely people out, at least not completely XD

“Mia, Mia?! Max! Niska? Fred!”

 

There is sobbing coming from the kitchen.

 

Mattie just steps out of the bathroom; she has used the break to lock herself in there and has tried to come up with an idea to what to do next.

 

She has no idea what’s suddenly wrong with Leo; she just knows that it frightens her a bit.

 

She walks into the kitchen, carefully.

 

Leo sits there, tears running down his cheeks and he looks almost like a lost little boy.

 

Mattie decides to approach him. “L..Leo?” she asks quietly.

 

Leo turns to her.

 

“Mattie!” he exclaims, jumps out of his chair and pulls her into a hug.

 

She can only understand under his sobs that he is afraid because his mum, brothers and sisters seem to have gone away without him.

 

“I don’t like this place, Mattie!” he sobs into her hair.

 

Mattie who is a big sister after all, knows this kind of behaviour.

 

She caresses his hair.

 

“Shhhh, it’s alright Leo. They just have gone to…the shops. They’re just down at the shops. I’ll take care of you until they are back okay?”

 

Leo opens the hug looks at her and nods, his lip still trembling and eyes full of tears.

 

“Leo…um how old are you again?”

 

He looks at her and takes his fingers for help.

 

“This old!”

 

Mattie looks at them and swallows hard.

 

“Four? Wow you’re a big boy then already, aren’t you?”

 

He nods proudly.

 

Mattie is about to freak out.

 

* * *

 

They sit back at the kitchen table. Mattie has connected her laptop with him to find out what the hell is going on.

 

“Mattie, how long do I have to sit here? It’s boring. Why can’t I go out and ride my new bike?”

 

He has spent the last half an hour as a four year old. But sometimes it seems like older versions of him are coming through.

 

“Just give me a second you can go out in 20 minutes okay?”

 

He sighs.

 

“Okay Commander Hawkins!”

 

Mattie gives him a stern look and then focuses again on her laptop.

 

* * *

 

“Do you know that you are really, really pretty?”

 

Mattie stops typing for a second.

 

She has been afraid that teenage Leo might pop up. She has no idea how he has been as a teenager. She has put the frying pan next to her just in case that he is like some of the guys from her school, who think that groping girls without their consent is some kind of compliment. Though, when it comes to him she rather doubts that he has ever been that way.

 

“But not as pretty as my mum or as Mia. But at least as pretty as Niska.”

 

Mattie sighs in relief. He’s still four and not 16, thank god.

 

She tries to access information about his mechanical brain. There has to be a reason why his memories seem to be all mixed up; he shouldn’t even recognise her as somebody he knows, and why he acts like younger versions of himself.

 

If she just knew what to look out for.

 

She sighs. She hopes that he’ll have a clear moment any time soon so that she can ask him how to contact Mia and Max.

 

She has already thought about calling her mum for help, but considering that she lied to her and isn’t staying with same aged Harun and his parents but alone with 5 years older, on the run, half human, still pretty mysterious Leo, this could probably be the basis for several months of being grounded.

 

“Mattie what on earth are you doing?”

 

“Oh thank god. Leo, how old are you?”

 

Leo looks at her in confusion.

 

“Still 22, just like yesterday and the day before. Is there any reason why you have me connected to your laptop instead of practising encoding messages for Niska?”

 

She can hear that he is angry at her.

 

“Yeah I have a reason. A pretty damn good reason if you ask me.”

 

Mattie tries to tell Leo. For a while he just keeps listening. Then he smiles at her.

 

“Look Mattie, I know that this is boring but it is important. I know you have talent and I know you are good at what you do, but like anyone else you have to learn how to crawl before you can walk. Those are safety methods and we have to talk them through first. You don’t have to make stuff up so you can get some real practise in head cracking. However, just for future reference: never, never ever connect me without my consent, is that clear?”

 

Mattie nods and apologises. This is an awful lot worse than she has thought.

 

* * *

 

“Should I leave? I can’t leave him like this. I have to find out what’s wrong. Oh I hope he won’t turn into something younger than three. I won’t put diapers on him. If he needs a diaper change I’m gone.”

 

Mattie lies in bed and tries to figure out what to do. She has thought about locking the bedroom door.

 

But since he has been like 4 almost all day, she couldn’t decide if this wasn’t too cruel, to lock a little kid out. Well not a little kid but a grown man, believing himself to be a little kid. She is just glad that no matter which ages he has been today he has always known her and his family. So there must be something really wrong with his synthetic brain because his digital memories seem to be intact and working, though they are a bit mixed up.

 

It knocks on the door.

 

“Oh boy here we go.” she thinks, hoping that it is either reasonable adult Leo or little, little Leo because those are the two that she feels able to handle the most.

 

“Mattie, are you asleep, yet?”

 

Well that doesn’t sound like 4 years old. But also not like the normal Leo.

 

“Yeah I’m awake, what is it?”

 

She waits for an answer that maybe gives her a hint at his age.

 

“I had a nightmare.”

 

Sounds terrified, too polite to just rush in, and sounds a little embarrassed. Mattie’s thoughts are racing through her own memories and she tries to focus on her memories of Toby and Sophie as well.

 

She comes to the conclusion that probably body language could be helpful.

 

“Come in.”

 

Leo tiptoes into the room.

 

“Ah I see. Too old to sleep next to someone after a nightmare, but still in need of it so this rule can’t be established that long ago”, she thinks and estimates that before her in the body of a 22 year old is right now a 6 or 7 year old boy.

 

“Do you want to sleep here tonight, as an exception of course?” She can’t believe that she has just asked him that. Damn those big sister instincts.

 

He nods slowly.

 

Mattie stands up.

 

“Okay listen I’m gonna build a fort. It’s absolutely nightmare resistant.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah I’ve done it a million times when I was your age. And I did it for my brother and my sister as well. No nightmare will be able to reach you. I promise.”

 

She takes him by the hand.

 

“Let’s get your pillow and your blanket.”

 

They walk downstairs and Mattie sincerely hopes that he won’t make a sudden turn back or else this is gonna be really awkward to explain.

 

* * *

 

She has used every blanket that she could find. Leo now lies on one side of the bed, on his side his knees tucked up. Around him there are walls made out of blankets and pillows. Mattie had to use an awful lot of those, since he’s not really the size of a 6 year old.

 

“So, almost done.”

 

She spreads the last blanket over him.

 

“So no nightmare will get through these walls. Goodnight Leo.”

 

She lies down on the other half of the bed.

 

“Mattie but you’re not in the fort. Aren’t you scared that the nightmare will get you instead?”

 

Mattie sighs. She has almost forgotten that Toby used to ask this question as well. But since her little brother sometimes had a little trouble with his bladder after nightmares, she had always insisted on guarding the fort from the outside.

 

“No, I’m a big sister. The nightmares know that. They know that I fought a million of them, my own and those that were sent for my siblings. They are afraid of me. I’ll be fine. You can go back to sleep now, it’s safe.”

 

Mattie sincerely hopes that her little fort trick works on him as well.

 

And even if it doesn’t, if he switches ages at night they will still have a pillow and blanket wall between them and everyone over 4 should get the meaning of that divider, so she should be okay.

 

She decides that as soon as she can get the last bit of information about the encoding and decoding systems between Leo and Niska out of the grown-up Leo she will send Niska a message and ask for help.

 

Mattie, who is left without a blanket but still has one pillow, tries to go to sleep and after a while of listening to Leo’s breathing, she succeeds.

 

* * *

 

Mattie dreams.

 

She doesn’t remember much about it, but when her mind slowly prepares itself for the waking up process, the feelings of the dream still linger on.

 

She feels warm, she feels safe and secure. It is a nice feeling.

 

Mattie slowly opens her eyes.

 

She is facing one of the pillow walls, but from the wrong side of it.

 

“Oh shit!” she thinks.

 

She is covered with the blanket that she had spread over Leo the night before.

 

She tries to move around, when she realises that there is an arm around her waist and her shoulder is touching something that feels very much like Leo’s unshaven chin.

 

“SOS, there is cuddling, I repeat there is cuddling.”

 

She, of course, doesn’t say that out loud. Leo seems to be still asleep; she can feel his regular breathing on her ear and neck. It gives her goose-bumps.

 

She carefully tries to remove his arm from her waist.

 

Leo groans and Mattie freezes in her movement.

 

Apparently he had opened his eyes.

 

“What the…” he starts and she interrupts him.

 

“Morning Leo, could you, like, let go of me there please?”

 

She uses her commanding voice that always works on Toby when he’s still sleepy.

 

One time she had him convinced to make her a full breakfast with freshly pressed orange juice before he had even realised what he was doing. Her mum was seriously mad at her for this, so she was banned from using this knowledge in her own household ever again.

 

But in this situation, Mattie thinks that it is worth a try.

 

Leo instantly lets go off her and moves as far as he can backwards, without risking falling of the bed.

 

Mattie turns around to him.

 

“Thanks.”

 

He looks baffled at her.

 

“Mattie what the hell is going on? Did I, did I come up here last night?”

 

Mattie feels sorry for him. How should she explain all this? Especially since he hadn’t believed her the first time when she tried to tell him the truth.

 

She can see in his face that he is totally creeped out by so much physical contact, especially since he apparently didn’t even remember having engaged in it.

 

And Mattie still isn’t sure she wasn’t the one who had worked her way into the fort.

 

She needs a plausible explanation and quickly.

 

“Don’t you remember?” she starts explaining, prepared to make it up as she goes along.

 

She looks at Leo whose face suddenly gets a very blank expression.

 

“Oh shit, not again.”

 

When he blinks again he smiles at her.

 

“Mattie the fort worked; I didn’t have any nightmares.”

 

Mattie swallows hard as she tries to keep up with this sudden switch.

 

“Oh, that’s great Leo. See, I told you it would work.”

 

“Why are you in here as well? I thought you guarded the outside.”

 

“Oh well you see I fought them all off, but one tried to be sneaky and so I thought you could use some reinforcements in here.”

 

Leo nods as if what she just told him was totally sensible.

 

“Kids”, Mattie thinks and shakes her head slightly.

 

* * *

 

The rest of the morning is relatively normal. Leo switches back to his own age, and he doesn’t seem to remember anything. And if he remembers waking up with Mattie in his arms, he does not address it.

 

Mattie tries the whole time to get him to agree that she can connect her laptop to him by coming up with weird suggestions on what might work in order to help Fred.

 

Leo just reacts by telling her what she hasn’t thought through about each suggestion, but she can see that he is about to get really annoyed with her.

 

Just after she gets the last information about how to contact Niska and how to decode her messages, Mattie practises on the message that had lead Leo here in the first place.

 

Niska told him about the strange message that had suddenly appeared on her laptop; a message that Dr. Millican had placed there for her. It was an audio recording. He told her how he had managed to place it there without it being detectable. He also told her that in case of any danger she or her family could come to his holiday home. His name was not connected to it; it had belonged to the father of his late wife. Nobody knew about the cottage, especially not Hobb, and he offered it to her as a safe haven just in case something might happen to him. The message had destroyed itself just after she had listened to it.

 

At first Leo hadn’t been sure about it, assuming that it was a trick from Hobb. But he had run some checks on Niska’s laptop that she had send him before she had bought a new one. Everything seemed to be just like Dr. Millican had explained in his message. At first Mia and Max had stayed there with him as well, until they had the feeling that it would just be too dangerous. Mia had told Leo that she had found someplace where she and Max would not attract attention, and for his safety and their own, they hadn’t told him where this place was exactly.

 

Mattie is just in the middle of writing her letter to Niska, when Leo suddenly grabs her hand.

 

Mattie knows this kind of behaviour from Sophie and so she just continues typing with his hand on top of hers.

 

She is really relieved that so far little kid Leo has very similar phases to her own younger siblings.

 

She turns her head towards him to tell him that if he keeps being a good boy he can have some ice cream later.

 

The Leo that looks back at her doesn’t seem to be as much like a little kid as she has thought.

 

He smiles shyly at her, his cheeks are deep red and he looks flustered.

 

“Oh shit, misjudged. Teenage Leo, abort the mission, abort the mission!” she thinks before she yanks her hand out from underneath his.

 

For a second there he looks devastated at her rejection.

 

“Have to go to the loo.” she mutters as a possible explanation.

 

She goes into the bathroom, locks herself in and leans her head against the door.

 

“Oh god I need help; immediately. I can handle sweet and innocent kids; I can handle grumpy and rather good looking adults. But an awkward and shy teenager, who seems even more fond of me than the little kid? That’s just not fair and …that’s just too much.”

 

Mattie returns to the kitchen just to find Leo sitting there drawing on a piece of paper.

 

He smiles up to her but is otherwise totally focused on his task. When she looks down at his drawing it’s just a ball of wavy lines and the word Mia is written in the corner in extremely scrawly letters.

 

It’s safe to say that this is kid Leo.

 

Mattie returns to her laptop just to find a message from Niska.

 

Mattie decodes it.

 

“Help is on the way.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Very short chapter this time, sorry.

 

“How is he?” Max asks before even saying hello to her.

 

Mia gives him a look and hugs Mattie briefly.

 

They stand in the corridor; the front door is already closed behind them.

 

“I don’t know. He spent the whole morning playing with me and he was an absolute angel. It is scary. I almost hugged him when he became grumpy for almost 20 minutes.”

 

The last night had been peaceful without any incidents or cuddling or weird age switches.

 

“Please Mia; you have to convince him that it’s okay for me to connect my laptop to him. I might be able to find out what’s going on.”

 

Mia nods and they enter the kitchen.

 

“Mum! Maxxie!” Leo exclaims before he tosses himself into their arms.

 

Mia looks concerned at Mattie. She knows that the normal Leo would have yelled at them all for getting into danger without an apparent reason. Well, at least not apparent to him.

 

* * *

 

 

“I just don’t know what this is. It seems like part of his brain is rejecting his technology all of a sudden. But I can’t find any reason for why it started to do that. Or maybe…”

 

Mattie doesn’t complete her sentence.

 

“Maybe what?” asks Mia, who sits next to Leo and distracts him with games so Mattie can work.

 

“I don’t know. I mean this technology is so advanced; he is literally the only one of his kind. What if it isn’t a technical problem after all but…a human one? That affects the technology?”

 

Mia looks like she is thinking about this possibility.

 

“And what kind of problem do you think it could be?” asks Max who just has woken up after his charge.

 

“I don’t know. From how I understood it he was never alone since his dad made you. And you were always there for him. And after he died, he told me that you helped him to recover and to cope with everything. So being here without you must have been his first time alone in about 9 years? Maybe he’s having some sort of I don't know traumatic episode or something, or…I don’t know I’m not a doctor.”

 

The others look at her in silence and then back to Leo who is still drawing and humming a little tune.

 

“Maybe there is something else in his human brain that explains everything? Should we look for it?” asks Max.

 

Mattie is so baffled by this suggestion that she turns around to look at him.

 

“Look into his human brain? And how should I do that in your opinion? Do I look like a brain surgeon to you?”

 

“No but you are a headcracker.”

 

“That is a figure of speech! I’m not cracking actual heads open!”

 

There is silence for a few seconds.

 

“Hm but…maybe if we hit him over the head just a little bit? Like a crashed computer?”

 

“Mattie!” exclaims Mia.

 

“Yeah of course not, I’m sorry, but I… I don’t know how to help him. I have no idea about his technology and how it correlates with him being human.”

 

Mia and Max can hear the desperation in her voice as well as frustration and concern.

 

Mia stands up and embraces Mattie.

 

“It’s alright Mattie; I know that you are doing your best. You should have some rest now.”

 

* * *

 

 

Mattie is already about to drift off and doesn’t pay too much attention to her thoughts anymore. “Hitting him over the head when he has quite possible a mental problem. Nice one Mattie… great idea! They should award you the “best (somewhat) girlfriend of the year” award.”

 

* * *

 

 

Mattie doesn’t sleep well so she gets up to get a glass of water from the kitchen.

 

As soon as she enters the corridor she can hear Mia and Max talking to each other.

 

“He’s asleep. He hasn’t been normal even once since we got here. It scares me, Max.”

 

“It scares me too, Mia.”

 

Mia sighs. “Poor Mattie had to handle it all on her own.”

 

“But it seems like she did a good job. I think he likes her a lot. I like her too, she is nice.”

 

“I like her too Max. We can be glad that he hasn’t been at that certain age yet.”

 

“Do you think it can happen? For him to act…like that again?”

 

Mia sighs deeply.

 

“I fear so.”

 

“Maybe we should get Matilda out of here before it happens.”

 

“We probably should, but we need her. He needs her.”

 

Mattie slowly retreats back to the bedroom wondering what on earth they were talking about.

 

* * *

 

 

The next day is relatively normal.

 

Leo seems to be at a reasonable age and acts like a total sweetheart. But just for as long as he is the centre of attention.

 

He sulks for at least 10 minutes after Mattie refuses to play cards with them, because she’s still searching for a technical explanation for his behaviour. He hasn’t got a virus and it’s not malware.

 

She is slowly getting more and more worried about not being able to help him. But at least whatever it is it doesn’t seem to be Hobb’s making.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's time for overly dramatic hurt/comfort yay. I'm sorry guys I know that this short chapter has major issues when it comes to writing but I promise the quality will increase again (at least I hope so).

 

 

“They’ve found us. Hobb and his people have found us!” is the first thing that comes to Mattie’s mind when she is woken up by all the shouting and the sound of breaking glass.

 

She jumps out of bed searching the room for something she can defend herself and the others with if necessary. She doesn’t find anything.

 

“Great.”

 

Before she opens the bedroom door, Mattie listens to the sounds downstairs. Something doesn’t seem right about them. They seem to come from the kitchen alone. And it seems like the shouting comes mostly from Leo.

 

Mattie sneaks into the direction of the kitchen; the front door is alright, the corridor seems normal.

 

She is relieved. Hobb had found them once before and their house hadn’t looked like this after his men had come in. But something is still wrong though.

 

The screams are now louder, but Mattie can’t understand a single word. It sounds more like an animal in pain rather than a synth or a human being. The sound of glass breaking is audible every few seconds.

Mattie is scared. Maybe this has something to do with the conversation between Max and Mia that she had overheard the night before. She looks into the kitchen.

 

From the last few days she knew that Leo was a clumsy kid, but this now has nothing to do with clumsy anymore.

 

He stands in the middle of the room screaming on top of his lungs, grasping mugs, cups, plates and glasses from the kitchen cupboards and throwing them against the wall with all his power.

 

Mattie is terrified and she looks for Max and Mia. They both stand around the corner and as soon as they see her, they pull her towards them and shield her from the flying bits of glass and ceramic.

 

Mia also shouts at Leo. She is begging him to calm down, telling him that he could hurt himself or others, but he doesn’t listen. He seems to be in a fit of blind rage.

 

Now for the first time Mattie is able to understand that he is not only screaming but also shouting words.

 

Mattie feels like she has never been as horrified in her life.

 

Now Max begs him to stop and has to shout as well to be heard.

 

Leo just turns around and this time a glass breaks at the exact spot on the wall where Mattie’s head would have been if Mia and Max hadn’t dragged her to the ground.

 

The broken bits shower down on the three of them. Mattie won’t take this any longer and she refuses to beg for him to stop.

 

“ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FUCKING MIND?! LEO ELSTER YOU WILL STOP THIS NONSENSE AT ONCE!! STOP IT, STOP IT, STOP IT!!!” she shouts at him at the top of her lungs, in full “I’m your big sister now do as I say!”-mode.

 

Leo, whom she feels has never gotten much contra from his Synth family, drops the glass that he had meant to throw, in shock of being yelled at.

 

He looks at her completely aghast. His face is red; still distorted from anger, his hair is a mess and his hands are full of little cuts and bruises.

 

But now it’s Mattie who is angry.

 

“What is this here? What on earth are you thinking?! There better be a damn good reason for this kind of behaviour! You threw a glass at us! You could have hurt someone! Just look at the kitchen! Do you even listen to me?! I said you could have hurt someone!”

 

Mia tries to calm her down. “Please Mattie it’s alright it’s just…”

 

Mattie interrupts her. “Alright? Alright fuck–all! Nothing’s alright. He goes berserk and you still try to coddle him. Look at you! You two have bruises all over! What’s your excuse hmm?” she takes a few fast steps into Leo’s direction and for one second it seems like she would grasp him by the shoulders and shake him. Instead she crosses her arms in front of her body and stares at him in anger.

 

“What’s your excuse, why are you doing this?!” She feels like she has never felt so angry before. She juts her chin forward, demanding an answer.

 

“I…” his voice cracks from all the previous screaming.

 

He tries again.

 

“I’m … I’m not a human anymore” he almost whispers.

 

Mattie nods slowly.

 

“I know.”

 

“My mum killed herself and me with her.” his voice is shaking.

 

Mattie can feel that she gets a lump in her throat.

 

“I know.”

 

“My dad he… I died and he…he made me into this, without even…and now...”

 

Tears run down his face and Mattie can feel tears burning in her eyes too.

 

She swallows hard.

 

“Yeah Leo, I know.”

 

Behind them Max has put his arm on Mia’s shoulder, a sign for her not to interfere, for now.

 

“Leo, how…how old are you right now?” asks Mattie carefully.

 

“13”.

 

Mattie nods, well it doesn’t excuse anything but it makes this kind of outburst at least a bit more understandable. He’s now back to the time where he had died and returned as a half synth- half human being.

 

“Would…would you like a hug?” she asks carefully because she doesn’t know what else to do. Much to her surprise he simply nods, tears still streaming down his face.

 

“Okay.”

 

She makes a few steps forward, careful not to step into any shards and then she embraces him and rests her head at his chest. He hugs her back tightly like he is drowning and she’s a life buoy. He starts to sob, his whole body is shaking and Mattie can feel that there are now tears running down her face as well.

 

She takes one hand off his back, signaling Max and Mia to join them too. They both do so and hug Mattie and Leo and they keep standing in this group hug for a long time.


	5. Chapter 5

 

They have cleaned the kitchen and treated all wounds and Leo, who is absolutely exhausted, is asleep in the bed room. Mattie has decided that she will sleep on the couch tonight.

 

She just has to leave enough room for Mia and Max so that they can sit down and charge.

 

Just before she closes her laptop and tries to make sense of everything that happened those last few days, she gets up because she can’t find her phone and she still has to reply back to her mum and to Harun to keep up her cover stories.

 

The last time she had seen it, it lay on the bedside table.

 

Mattie sneaks out of the living room, through the corridor, upstairs and hesitates for a second in front of the bedroom door.

 

She doesn’t want to wake Leo up again after it had took such an amount of time and great effort from her and his family to calm him down.

 

Max had told her that he used to have these rage fits until he was almost 15, because of the things he had gone through and the memories he couldn’t forget.

 

She pushes the door open carefully and steps into the room as quietly as possible.

 

“Mattie?”

 

She freezes and wonders which Leo it is now.

 

“Damn how do you know it’s me? I walked like extra quietly.”

 

“Mia and Max know both how to knock.”

 

“Touché. So you know that Mia and Max are here?” asks Mattie who is now pretty sure that this is 22 year old Leo.

 

He switches on the bedside lamp.

 

“Yeah I know. Something’s happening to me, isn’t it?”

 

He stares at his hands which are almost covered in plasters.

 

Mattie nods. “I’m afraid so.”

 

“I remember that you tried to warn me.”

 

Leo is apparently having a very clear moment. She wonders what else he can remember.

 

“Did you connect me to your laptop? I mean, did you find something?”

 

Mattie instantly feels awkward and a bit guilty. She stares at her feet and slowly shakes her head.

 

“I tried I really, really did! I just…I don’t know how your synthetic parts react with the human ones and I can’t find any malfunctions. I’m sorry but I really don’t know what to do.”

 

Leo sighs deeply. “It’s not your fault. But maybe I can help you as long as I’m still clear. Would you get your laptop?”

 

Mattie agrees.

 

* * *

 

 

They sit on the bed, Leo is connected to Mattie’s laptop and she shows him what she can access and what she has looked for.

 

He types for a long time while he’s trying to provide her with the information she needs.

 

When he turns his head towards her, he sees that she is now lying on the bed, slowly drifting away.

 

When she awakes briefly the next time, Leo has disconnected himself and lies next to her, also still awake. She can see tears on his cheeks, so she moves closer to him. She doesn’t even know why it just seems natural to her at this point.

 

She places her head on his chest and he places a hand on her back very slowly and carefully as if he’s afraid that she might be uncomfortable with this.

 

There is silence for a few moments.

 

“Mattie, I don’t know what is happening to me. I… um… I’m scared.”

 

Mattie reaches out for his hand and presses it slightly. She recognises from his voice and his body language that he’s not teenage or kid Leo but also not his normal self. She guesses that she’s now met 19-20 year old Leo for the first time.

 

“Me, too. I’m scared as well. But you’re going to be okay. I promise.”

 

“At least he seems to remember now again in at least two different ages. That’s progress. Maybe his malfunctioning is really related to his trauma. Or maybe not. Ugh, if I just could have stayed awake earlier.” she thinks, feeling rather frustrated with herself, before she drifts off again.

 

* * *

 

 

“No Mia, don’t wake her. I told you we were having a slumber party. Do you think she’ll like the drawing I made? Dad usually never lets me invite someone to stay overnight.” Leo babbles so loudly that Mattie wakes up from it.

 

“Mattie?” Mia touches her shoulder.

 

Mattie turns towards them; Mia who stands in front of the bed and looks at her concerned and Leo who stands in the door frame and waves at her like an excited little kid.

 

Mattie sighs but manages to smile at them.

 

“Morning.”

 

Mattie hopes that the reason Mia looks so concerned has nothing to do with the fact that she fell asleep in the arms of Mia’s 20 year old son and apparently woke up next to the 4 year old version, both of course in the body of a 22 year old.

 

“That’s just too weird. I should go to therapy after this. Or Leo. Or Mia and Max. Heck we should all go to therapy after this” Mattie thinks, but she knows it’s not like that. Her feelings, which she is intensely glad about, kick always back from I really, really like you to big sister mode as soon as Leo switches to something younger than 17. But she still thinks that the whole situation is extremely fucked up.

 

Mia pulls her out of her thoughts.

 

“Someone tried to contact me and Max. I think it was Laura.”

 

“My Mum? But I just wrote to her like yesterday …oh no I didn’t.”

 

Mattie grabs her phone to check her messages. She has 11 new ones all from her mum.

 

“Oh sh…” she remembers that little Leo is in the room as well, “shhhugar. Oh sugar!”

 

She quickly reads the messages.

 

The first ones are normal asking her stuff about her holidays with Harun.

 

The fifth one tells her that she is in really big trouble:

 

“Met Harun’s parents in town! They have no idea about your “holiday”! Harun is alone at their holiday home! WHERE ON EARTH ARE YOU?!!!”

 

“Called Harun! He said something about a girl and you hacking Synths! Mattie if I don’t hear from you until midday… You’re in big trouble young lady!”

 

“AT LEAST LET ME KNOW IF YOU ARE OKAY!”

 

“Oh god you are with them aren’t you? Mattie it’s dangerous! For all of you! Call me, I’m coming to get you.”

 

“I tried to contact Mia and Max like you showed me! No one is picking up! Mattie just tell me if you’re safe!”

 

“I reached Niska! She said they split up! She has no idea where they are! Mattie your mummy is really concerned about you!”

 

Mattie has to swallow hard. The last sentence is the code that she and her mum made up. Her mum feared that Hobb and his men might hold Mattie captive. And apparently Niska has lied to her at least when it comes to Leo’s location.

 

She reads the last message.

 

“Oh god you aren’t with them are you?! Please Mattie call me!”

 

Mattie puts her phone down for a second.

 

“Mum is totally freaking out. I have to call her and tell her that I’m okay. Don’t worry I won’t tell her where we are. Can you get Leo downstairs?”

 

Mia nods and takes Leo by the hand.

 

“Come on, let’s get some breakfast. Mattie has to make a call.”

 

They leave the room and Mattie can hear him asking “Doesn’t she want to see my drawing?” as they walk down the stairs.

 

Mattie shouts after them. “I’ll look at it later, after breakfast okay?”

 

“Okaaaay!” he shouts back.

 

Mattie can’t help but to smile for a few seconds.

 

Then she puts up her phone again.

 

Time to call the motherly unit.


	6. Chapter 6

 

“Mum! How on earth?! I told you not to come here! How did you even find us?”

 

Laura Hawkins steps quickly into the corridor and closes the door behind her.

 

She takes Mattie’s face into her hands and looks her up and down.

 

“Are you okay?

 

“Yeah Mum I’m okay, but…”

 

“Good, get your stuff--we’re leaving”.

 

“But Mum I have to…”

 

“You don’t have to do anything. Don’t think for one second that you’re not in big trouble, you understand me? For now we can’t draw any more attention to them. Now go and get your stuff, I’ll talk to Mia.”

 

Mattie pouts. It makes her so angry sometimes when her mum just won’t listen to her. She knows that backtalk is useless when her mum is in this mood. She turns around to get her bag, stamping her feet while she walks upstairs.

 

* * *

 

 

When she walks back into the kitchen to get her laptop, her mum sits there with Mia and Max and stares at Leo who’s once again drawing something.

 

When he sees her enter, his whole face lights up.

 

“Look Mattie this one is for you!” He points at one of the paintings on the table. Mattie, who ignores her mum’s starring, walks over to him and watches over his shoulder.

 

She is not entirely sure what the painting shows but she tells him nonetheless that it is lovely.

 

“It’s the nightmare fort, you see. There is me, asleep, and those are the nightmares attacking and there’s you guarding me and they run away because you scare them!”

 

“Wow awesome painting, thank you!” she says and takes it, now risking a look at her mother’s face.

 

“The nightmare fort?” she mumbles and remembers this weird little thing that Mattie has always done to protect Toby and Sophie from nightmares.

 

Mattie just nods.

 

Laura looks confused back to Leo. “He really is a kid right now isn’t he?”

 

“I’m afraid so” answers Mia.

 

Leo who was distracted with painting now turns again towards them.

 

“Mum is that woman going to take Mattie away?”

 

“That woman?” Mattie asks looking concerned at Mia.

 

“Leo that woman is Laura, Mattie’s mum. You have met her before” says Max.

 

Leo stares at Laura with narrow eyes, apparently thinking hard.

 

Then he smiles.

 

“Hello Laura, I’m Leo.”

 

Mia looks at Mattie. “He doesn’t remember her. Shouldn’t he remember her as well?”

 

“I don’t know” she replies while an uneasy feeling creeps over her, “I’ll have to check his brain data once more.”

 

Just when she’s about to connect Leo to her laptop, he suddenly stops moving and does not even blink.

 

Mattie who by now knows these signs to well just hopes that 13 year old Leo won’t make a comeback.

 

When he blinks again he looks straight at Mattie.

 

“It’s happening again isn’t it?” he asks.

 

Mattie nods slowly.

 

 “Leo? Leo do you remember Mattie’s mum Laura?” asks Mia and points at her.

 

Leo looks past Mattie at the three others.

 

“Of course I remember. Hello Lau…Mrs. Hawkins.”

 

Laura, who now looks seriously freaked out, manages to smile at him. “Leo, it’s fine if you just call me Laura.”

 

He smiles shyly at her.

 

Mattie looks at him.

 

“Leo, do you remember what you tried to teach me about your father’s technology?”

 

Leo looks at her scratching his head.

 

“I don’t think so… sorry.”

 

Mattie sighs.

 

“Okay then Leo, do you think it’s possible that whatever is happening to you right now slowly gets ahold of your memories and messes with them? If it’s possible, do you know how to stop it?”

 

Leo stares at her for a few seconds, apparently thinking hard. Mattie really hopes that he has an answer for her. He’s about to reply and she can feel that she almost holds her breath.

 

“Why are you asking me such boring questions? Like what even?”

 

Mattie stares at him and exhales.

 

“Great. Leo?” she asks sweetly, “how old are you right now?”

 

He stares at her like she’s just gone mad.

 

“I’m seventeen? Just like you? Duuuh?”

 

Mattie presses her lips together. “Wonderful”, she says through clenched teeth.

 

Laura turns to Mia.

 

“Is there no one who can help him?”

 

Max smiles at her widely, his face full of hope and belief.

 

“Mattie can.”

 

Mattie doesn’t want to smash his hopes by contradicting him openly so she replies:

 

“I…I probably can, once I figured out… he was trying to teach me, but he never got to it. But maybe if I find some sort of reference…” she says and thinks that it could probably really work.

 

Laura stares at her daughter for a few seconds.

 

“Alright… we’re staying.”

 

“We’re staying? Like staying here? We? As in you and me?”

 

“Yeah, but just if it’s alright with you?” Laura says and turns to Mia and Max.

 

Mia smiles at her.

 

“Of course it’s alright, Laura.”

 

* * *

 

 

“So where did you sleep?”

 

Mattie stops scrolling through the headcracker forum.

 

“Upstairs; where you will sleep as well.”

 

 Laura nods and Mattie starts reading again.

 

“So where did Leo sleep?” her mum asks trying to make it sound like a casual question.

 

Mattie blushes.

 

“Upstairs…sometimes? Gosh mum it’s not like that! He’s a little kid now most of the time! And even when he’s not it’s just…not like that?!”

 

Laura nods quickly. “Okay, okay I was just asking because, well Harun told me you two haven’t been much in contact lately. And I thought you two were...”

 

Just when Mattie wants to reply, Leo rushes in.

 

“Mattiiiiieeee!!” he exclaims and hugs her without slowing down first so that she almost falls of her chair.

 

“Woah, careful there! I don’t remember agreeing to play rugby with you.”

 

He chuckles.

 

“Sorry.”

 

Mattie smirks. “It’s alright kiddo, but now let go off me and at least start searching for Max. I know that you agreed to play hide and seek.”

 

“Yeah but he’s just so good at it!”

 

“Okay, you haven’t heard it from me, but I think I saw him in the garden next to the big hedges. And now off with you.”

 

“Cool, thanks Mattie!” Leo exclaims releases her from his embrace and runs out of the kitchen into the direction of the garden.

 

Mattie can’t help it but a big smile appears on her face.

 

Laura watches her carefully, also smiling.

 

“I think he likes you, you know.”

 

“Yeah of course he does mum. I’m like totally awesome with kids. Something about my “come any closer and you’ll be mince” attitude just really seems to scream “I love children and I’ll play with you for all eternity.”

 

Laura smiles at her.

 

“That’s not what I meant though. I already noticed it at home… I mean… the normal Leo, I think he really, really likes you.”

 

Mattie blushes and then gets distracted by something on her screen.

 

“Mum!”

 

Laura holds her hand up in defence. “Alright, alright I didn’t say anything.”

 

Mattie stares at her Laptop and doesn’t really seem to listen.

 

“No Mum, look! It’s a message from Niska!”

 

Mattie skims the message and then looks stunned at her mother.

 

“I think she just sent me David Elster’s notes on Leo’s technology.”


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay finally it's angsty drama time (overly dramatic again but apparently that's just how i roll xD) . And huge blocks of explanations time. And I should add that I made the techinical stuff up and it's probably incorrect but in a few points it can't be proven wrong. So yay me I guess.
> 
> Just in case that some of you get triggered by the mentioning of blood; blood and some sort of attack will be mentioned in this.

"That is not possible. He burnt it, all of it. How did Niska…do you think she had it the whole time?”

 

Mattie shakes her head.

 

“She writes that Dr. Millican had told her what he told Leo and Max, that David Elster liked to insert easter eggs in the root code of his creations. Not only your code for consciousness but also mundane things like cooking recipes and stuff. Niska says that she wondered if their dad didn’t leave the secret to his greatest accomplishment in some root code as well. She started digging and it seems like she hunted that Synth down already a while ago.”

 

Everybody in the kitchen is absolutely stunned by this, except Leo who lies on the couch blasting some punk music over the headphones that he “borrowed” from Mattie. She doesn’t really mind.

 

“Do you think she, she knew that something would happen to Leo?” asks Laura.

 

Mia shakes her head.

 

“I don’t think so, Laura. Niska just likes having something up her sleeve for various occasions.”

 

“I’m a bit scared what she implies with “hunted down”, though.” admits Laura.

 

“Well whatever she did, she extracted the notes from the root code and encoded them before sending them. I just need to decode them and then understand them and I might be able to help Leo.”

 

* * *

 

“Stupid, stupid, stupid”

 

Mattie lies her head on the table, face down. She feels like crying. She has tried for hours to understand David Elster’s thoughts but one can tell that he created these notes only to map out his thoughts, not as a guidance book for someone else.

 

Mattie jumps when someone suddenly places a hand on her shoulder.

 

“Jesus Christ, Max!”

 

“I am sorry that I disturbed you Matilda but something is wrong with Leo.” says Max and points to the couch.

 

Mattie gets up quickly.

 

Leo lies there, his head is bending backwards, his eyes are fixed on the ceiling and there is blood streaming from his nose. His eyelids are twitching.

 

“Oh shit! Max, quick, get a towel or something!”

 

There is panic in her voice.

 

Max quickly walks to the kitchen counter and returns with a tea towel which he hands Mattie.

 

She presses it under Leo’s nose trying to contain the bleeding.

 

“Mum! Mia!”

 

“They’re not here Mattie, they should be back soon.”

 

“Here just hold that like I did.” she says to Max and lets go of the towel as soon as he has it.

 

Mattie runs back to the kitchen and grabs her computer and all she needs to connect Leo to it.

 

When she is at his side again, Max looks at her with big hopeful eyes.

 

“We have the notes; you know what to do, right? You can help him.”

 

Mattie desperately wishes her mum and Mia would be here right now, or anyone who would know what to do in this situation. She really wishes Leo could help her right now.

 

She has read the notes but she’s not sure that she understood them yet alone is able to apply them.

 

Leo starts shaking and twitching violently. His face races through the portrayal of different emotions; every one seemingly fitting to one of the Leo’s that Mattie has met those last few days.

 

She types frantically in her laptop trying to stop any of those processes.

 

By now she’s sobbing and shaking as well.

 

“Can you do something?” asks Max who had to let go off the towel and take a step back so that Leo wouldn’t hurt him by accident. Max now watches his brother in horror.

 

 “I don’t know how! I don’t know how!” Mattie cries.

 

Suddenly Leo’s hand darts forward and he grabs her by the wrist. Mattie can see him putting all his energy into trying to form a word.

 

“Dr…drea..”

 

Mattie mutters when suddenly her eyes widen with shock.

 

She needs her other hand to loosen Leo’s grip and once she does she starts typing as if the devil himself stood behind her.

 

After a few moments the twitching and shaking slows down before it stops altogether. Leo lies still and the bleeding seems to stop as well.

 

“Omg is he dead?! Did I kill him?!”

 

Max rushes to Leo’s side and is visibly relieved when he tells Mattie seconds later that Leo is breathing and has a pulse.

 

“I knew you could help him.”

 

Max shows her his biggest smile, while she is still sobbing from shock and now occupied with wiping the tears from her face and trying to get her regular breathing back.

 

When she’s finished she takes another deep breath.

 

“Max I need you to check his vitals now. I’m not quite finished.”

 

Everything that she has to do now is clear in her mind; she gets working.

 

* * *

 

Leo slowly opens his eyes; the first things he sees are Mia and Max, looking at him with eager anticipation.

 

“What happened?” he asks trying to sit up. Mia immediately signals him to lie down again.

 

He does not know quite what it is but something feels weird. Mia addresses him to explain the situation.

 

“Mattie cracked you father’s notes. You were having a total systematic breakdown. Mattie said that your father left a hint that this could happen. Apparently your human body couldn’t cope any longer with your painful memories. It started to affect your system, because the human part of your brain tried too hard to process those memories, and couldn’t because they are files. It caused your synthetic part to access them non-stop, playing them subconsciously in a constant loop. According to Mattie it turned into a vicious circle. We think that when you couldn’t cope as usual your human mind tried to retreat, like after a trauma and your synthetic part was controlled by your digital memories. Your subconsciousness tried to access the less painful memories from your childhood and in absence of a self your system took those memories and references as a command, causing you to basically be, or at least act the age of the current memory you were accessing.”

 

“I think I remember it.” mutters Leo.

 

Max looks at Mia. “Why didn’t he remember Laura though? Did Mattie tell you?”

 

Mia nods. “Mattie thinks that the constant, extreme strain on your systems and mind started to cause a collapse because of the interdependencies that lead to false processing over and over again. Neither side of you could fix the problem so everything made it worse and she assumes that this false processing started to mess up your digital memories, trying to fix either you into something that could process them entirely, or fix them in a way that caused temporary disturbances in the file data.”

 

Leo thinks that he’s about the get a headache, and yet something in his head feels like a weight has been lifted off it.

 

“But… but I had clear moments, didn’t I? I thought I had…”

 

“Yes, you had those. We don’t know why or how you had them though.” replies Mia, turning to Max who looks like he has an idea.

 

“Maybe if the other Leo’s were caused by his synthetic side, maybe it was his mind who took over again briefly. Do you remember them all? Maybe there was something that drew your mind out of its retreat for a short amount of time. Just like a person in a coma who hears their favourite song and therefore gets better briefly.”

 

Max looks really proud of his thesis.

 

Leo thinks about it, before he gets distracted by Laura who enters the room. “You’re awake. How are you feeling?”

 

Leo looks at her trying to find the answer to her question within himself.

 

“I think I’m okay. Where is Mattie? Can I talk to her?”

 

“Mattie is upstairs and finally asleep. You should go back to sleep you need your rest. And so does she.” answers Laura in her caring, no more discussions, voice.

 

* * *

 

Leo doesn’t feel the same anymore when he wakes up again.

 

There have been no dreams, no flashbacks. For the first time in his synth/human life he doesn’t feel tormented by his memories.

 

He knocks on her door and Laura opens it.

 

Leo can see Mattie sitting on the bed, smiling slightly at him. She still looks exhausted.

 

Laura looks from Leo to Mattie and back, both haven’t said a single thing yet.

 

“I’ll leave you two alone then.” she simply states and leaves. She knows that Leo needs answers that only her brilliant daughter can give.

 

“Hey, Goethe. Looking better.”

 

He smiles at her and enters the room, sitting down on the edge of the bed.

 

“What did you do?”

 

“So much for small talk then. Mum told me Mia has already told you what was going on?”

 

He nods.

 

“Well I changed the file data of the memories that were on loop and put them into a programme. I generated an access key which makes them readable, without it they’re useless. And I embedded the programme and the key into your system. It was in your dad’s note how to embed stuff into your system like he did with your memories and I just figured that it could be done with another programme as well.”

 

Leo stares at her in awe.

 

“You mean you hid those memories inside me and made them inaccessible unless I especially decide to use that key?”

 

“Yeah. To be fair it was you who gave me the crucial hint.”

 

“I did? How so?”

 

“Well I think you tried to mutter the word “dreams”. Your dad wrote something about that your dreams are digital. So when you told me you were having nightmares, I just wondered, you know. He later also mentioned a triangle of correlation: mind, technology, memory. I first had thoughts about it but I didn’t believe them to right but then…I don’t know I just came to the conclusion that the malfunctioning really had to do with all this. The rest was just discovering the processing errors and undoing them by converting the files.”

 

“What about your solution, how did you come up with this?”

 

“Don’t laugh, okay? When I was little I had a music box and one day I dreamed that I put the key inside the box so that the music box could play music to itself but it would never ever give the key back again. And when I woke up the key was really gone. I think it was Toby who lost it. I loved that music box. That’s it.” Mattie shrugs her shoulders.

 

The look on Leo’s face proves how absolutely stunned he is and when he speaks it is as if she has almost taken his breath away.

 

“How on earth…how could you ever believe, even for a second, that you’re stupid? You are a bloody genius!”

 

Mattie blushes. “Well, had a good teacher I suppose?”

 

Leo shakes his head.

 

“No you didn’t. You worked it all out by yourself. But I have one last question though.”

 

“Shoot.”

 

Mattie isn’t entirely sure, but as Leo sits there, apparently trying to find the right words for whatever he wants to ask, it almost seems like he blushes a bit.

 

“You know I…I wondered…”

 

He gets interrupted as someone knocks on the door and opens it.

 

It’s Laura. “Leo, can I talk to you for a moment?”

 

* * *

 

The next few days keep everyone busy. The present members of the Elster family try to figure out what to do next and where to go. Laura helps them with the planning. She and Mia make endless list of stuff they’ll need. Max informs Niska on a daily basis on what’s going on.

 

Mattie and Leo spend most of their time together. She checking on his data and making sure that everything works how it is supposed to. He sits there making jokes, distracting her by making her laugh. He’s really funny, though he also has kept his dry, sarcastic humour; they banter almost all the time, especially when they establish their own code system for messages.

 

But now Leo’s a lot more lighthearted than she would have ever expected from him. He states that most of the time he’s almost able to forget that those memories even exist.

 

Mattie is not sure if she did the right thing when it comes to the long term. That maybe it is not the best for his mind to just suppress them, though for now it seems to be extremely helpful for him.

 

Despite her worries it’s almost like a holiday now. A busy one but they all still find the time to talk, play games, and just enjoy the fact that for the moment they have some peace.

 

Leo who had been interrupted by Laura, before he could ask Mattie something that had obviously been on his mind, hasn’t addressed it since.

 

Still, Mattie sometimes feels that he wants to talk to her about something. Maybe about his father’s technology or the two cuddling incidents they had. When it comes to the latter, she actually can’t talk about only two, anymore.

 

Things have become quite cuddly between them. Every time they banter about things like who is the one who types into the laptop, who gets the best seat on the couch, it always seems to develop into playfully grabbing hands and arms, poking the sides (though Mattie always has to be careful not to poke the wrong side), tickling mercilessly (she is extremely ticklish, he not at all) to keep the other one from winning. Eventually it always ends in both of them sharing the space that they were fighting over, often moving closer together than actually necessary.

 

Every time someone witnesses this, Max only smiles while Mia and Laura always exchange looks that are pregnant with meaning. Leo doesn’t seem to notice this and Mattie doesn’t mind…at all. She knows that in a few days it is time for Laura and her to go home and to send the Elster family back on their separate ways. She wants to enjoy the time they still have left.


	8. Chapter 8

“So you’re just gonna run again?”

 

Mattie and Leo stand next to each other in the garden. Max, Mia and Laura had been shopping this morning and are now loading the cars at the other end of the house.

 

“It looks like it. I mean this place isn’t going to be safe forever.”

 

Mattie nods absently.

 

“And you’re really sure that you want to try it on your own?”

 

“Yeah. I mean whatever happens they are still my family; that will never change, and we’ll meet up at least once in two weeks. I think what your mum told me is right. I have to learn to cope with things on my own. Being dependent on them… or other people, won’t make it better. And they want to experience life as well. I can’t protect them forever. It’s like keeping them from living.”

 

“Woah, so was that the conversation you two had? And my mum actually said that? I should remind her once in a while.”

 

Leo chuckles.

 

Mattie can feel the all too familiar lump in her throat again.

 

“What if you…unravel again?”

 

“I won’t, you fixed it, remember? And thanks to you I can now choose if and when to access those memories. That’s all I ever needed. I think I’ll do okay. But looks like the apprentice surpassed the master.”

 

“Oh shut up, Goethe.” Mattie replies, rolls her eyes at him but grins for a second before she gets serious again.

 

She stares into the hedges.

 

“I’ll miss you, you know?”

 

Leo sighs.

 

“I know. But there’s no need to. With the new code system…we should be able to keep in contact.”

 

“Wow “I know”, just what I wanted to hear.”

 

Leo looks at her from the side.

 

“I’m sorry Mattie; I’m not too great at this.”

 

“At saying goodbye? Provided you ever get around to it in the first place?”

 

She can’t help it, that little quip was just necessary.

 

“No, I mean the whole boyfriend thing.”

 

Mattie feels like her heart skips a beat and is not entirely sure if she understood him right.

 

She quickly turns around to him.

 

“What?!”

 

“I said “The whole boyfriend thing” ”

 

“Woah, no, no, no, no, nope, no. You, I mean YOU are not my boyfriend.”

 

He simply looks at her.

 

“I’m not? Not even a tiny bit?”

 

“Not even a teensy-weensy bit…well…mhm…ugh okay maybe a tiny bit alright.”

 

He looks at her again with this mischievous grin that’s still just so unfamiliar to her.

 

“A tiny bit. Hm okay. I can live with that. Yeah tiny bit, I mean after all people should see the good and the bad from each other and not necessarily the ages 4-22.”

 

Mattie can’t help but laugh.

 

“Okay a bit more than a bit. There you made me say it. Let’s say about hmmm…about half a boyfriend.”

 

Leo muses about it. “Half? Yeah I like that. Half Human, half synth, half boyfriend…the golden trio.”

 

They both can’t help it anymore and they burst with laughter. When Mattie thinks about it, him being like this, being funny and for once not tormented by his own memories, is probably how his family knew him on his best days. It’s very different from the Leo that she had met first. However now she knows him like this as well, he just seems a lot happier and it is something that Mattie gets used too very quickly.

 

After they finally calmed down, Mia enters the garden.

 

“Everything is almost ready. Leo you will drive behind us for a while and then we’ll split up. Mattie your mum wants me to tell you that you have 5 minutes to say goodbye and then you’ll be leaving as well.”

 

When Mia turns around and steps inside again, Mattie sighs deeply. Saying goodbye is not her strong suit, but she knows that she’s at least better at it then the Leo who had simply left without a goodbye the last few times.

 

She just thinks about what to say, when Leo, who has taken a step aside, embraces her from behind.

 

“I’ll miss you terribly.” he whispers into her ear.

 

Mattie smiles but she feels like crying.

 

Leo who can feel that she’s quite tense kisses her on the cheek.

 

It takes him by surprise when she suddenly frees herself from his embrace, swirls around, places one hand on his neck and pulls him into a kiss. After a few seconds of being surprised he returns the kiss passionately.

 

* * *

 

 

“Are they still not finished saying goodbye? Max pretended he’s not finished loading the car for half an hour now.” Laura walks up to Mia and stands beside her, being curious but not wanting to intrude her daughter’s privacy.

 

“Maybe if I hadn’t told them 5 more minutes we could still pretend to not be finished.” Mia admits.

 

Laura nods. “Well too late but we really can’t postpone the departure much longer, do you think they finally spoke? What do you think are they doing?” she finally asks Mia.

 

“I believe, Laura, due to the fact that there aren’t any voices outside, that your daughter is snogging my son, since approximately 4 and a half minutes ago.”

 

Laura sighs annoyed and starts to rummage through her purse while Mia grins triumphant.

 

“She always does things the last minute… I thought maybe…hey but what if Max is right and Mattie didn’t start it?” Laura asks.

 

“Well, we can’t ask them and I was right about the time.”

 

Laura nods, sighs and slides Mia the twenty quid.

 

* * *

 

 

_**Two months later** _

 

It is Mattie’s birthday. She and Leo have kept in contact. On most of the days he’s now this funny almost happy guy, considering that he’s still on the run. Living alone doesn’t seem to be too bad now and from what she knows he meets his family members regularly.

 

On other days however he’s just back to the brooding, moody, tormented soul that she got to know him as. He calls it facing his demons step, by step. She would be happier if he wouldn’t do this when he’s just on his own.

 

After the first month Leo has stopped sending her his location. He says it’s safer this way. It’s weird for her. She knows if he’s well or not, she knows what happens in his life but she has no idea where she should go in case she ever needed to seem him urgently.

 

Her parents have arranged a party for her at the Hawkins household. They invited almost everyone from her class, all her friends and Toby and Sophie are there as well. Well, Sophie is just there for the first half an hour because she has to go to bed then. Mattie, so that her little sister won’t be disappointed, secretly cuts the cake, which originally was meant as a surprise cake, and gives her the first piece.

 

Later on, her parents retreat as well but not before her father cheerily reminds them all of the terms of agreement for this party: The one who barfs will be the one who cleans.

 

Mattie is not entirely sure that this will stop some of her friends from getting totally wasted.

 

* * *

 

 

The party is a huge success. The listen to music, they laugh, they joke, and they drink a bit. And even though Mattie is happy right now and has a really good time, she still wishes that her half-boyfriend would have at least sent her a happy birthday message by now. It makes her nervous in various ways that he hasn’t contacted her yet on her big day.

 

Her mood changes from a bit worried and a bit pissed off, when Rebecca, a friend of hers comes back in from having a smoke and re-joins the group of girls with whom Mattie stands around and chats. Being already a bit tipsy, she simply announces with slurred speech:

 

“Mattie, there’s some sort of weirdo standing outside starring at your house. But he’s totally hot. In a like shy and rugged kind of way, if you know what I mean.” she giggles.

 

Before she has even finished the sentence, Mattie is out of the front door.

 

“Oy, Goethe!” she shouts at the supposed weirdo who actually gives a jump from being addressed so abruptly.

 

Mattie cannot help but laugh at his surprised face before she runs towards him and falls around his neck.

 

He starts to kiss her immediately. When they separate again, mainly for breathing reasons, she slaps him slightly on the shoulder.

 

“Why didn’t you knock? Or write to me that you’re outside?”

 

“I didn’t know you were throwing a party; I didn’t want to interrupt.”

 

Mattie sighs knowingly. “Charm school didn’t prepare you for party situations, then?”

 

“No they didn’t.” he whispers dramatically before he looks down and pretends to be absolutely gutted.

 

When he looks up again, he grins at her and makes her a suggestion:

 

“I have an idea. You could give me a crash course.”

 

“Hm. So you would be like an apprentice for learning how to survive a social gathering at your girlfriend’s?”

 

Leo raises an eyebrow. “Girlfriend? Without a “half-“ ?”

 

“Yeah, meant to inform you we got an upgrade.”

 

Leo grins at her happily before trying to look stern again.

 

“That’s fantastic! However back to the topic I’d be more like crash course participant, really.”

 

“Yeah, so you mean an apprentice.”

 

“Participant.” insist Leo.

 

“Appren…” Her sentence gets interrupted by Leo’s kiss and Mattie grins into it.

 

They part again and Leo feels it is necessary to make one last reservation.

 

“Mattie, we can’t both get called Goethe though.”

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that was that. Thank you all very much for reading, kudo-leaving and of course for the lovely comments <3
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the story =)


End file.
